Municipality of Anchorage Lurches Left on Energy Policy

August 22, 2024

With a super-majority in its Assembly and a new mayor who embraces the need to ‘fix the climate crisis’, you’d expect energy policies in Anchorage to move away from its historical dependence on natural gas and proven, reliable technologies. 

But last week’s release of the mayoral transition plan doesn’t just focus Anchorage toward a ‘green’ transition, it hurtles the Municipality of Anchorage into unnecessary and risky territory for its 270,000 residents.

The transition team members – including nearly a dozen affiliated with ‘just transition’-focused ENGOs and renewable energy advocacies – began by declaring that there is an energy crisis in the area and that renewables are more efficient and ready for area-wide implementation.  There is a lack of truth around either statement.

Cook Inlet and the North Slope of Alaska have decades, if not centuries, of natural gas reserves available under their crust.  The nearby Mat-Su Valley has coal reserves that could add 100 or more years to the energy supply.  However, between a lack of political will and the ever-looming threat of radical environmentalists’ lawsuits, projects designed to bring those riches to market are stalled. 

Other goals included refreshing a previous administration’s Climate Action Plan; one that plainly advanced Anchorage along a ‘net-zero’ path.  They laughingly even aspire to install solar panels on every municipal building and school within the next three years, forgetting that those panels are naturally covered in snow for nearly six months a year, take manpower to clean when so, and are basically useless (due to darkness) for more than half the day during most months schools are in session.

If Anchorage’s leadership was serious about advancing projects to ensure energy security for the future, it should work with partners in the private and public sectors to break through the various roadblocks.

Should they desire include us, we stand ready to assist.  So far, however, their actions show they’d rather kowtow to policies that add risk to the electrical and heating grids, are sure to increase costs and advance a supply-chain dependence on China.